The Lucky Ones

In some way or another, a person will be affected by Cancer and Diabetes at some point in their life; whether it is having it yourself, a friend or family member or even just someone at work. Some people are lucky enough to overcome it but other people are not.

Friends and family of mine have been affected by both and I want people who’ve been lucky enough to survive to outnumber the not so lucky ones. That’s why I wanted to draw your attention to two amazing friends of mine who are raising money for both charities…

1. Bowel Cancer

“Each day, more than 100 people are told they have bowel cancer. Thanks to improvements in diagnosis and treatment, the number of people surviving for five years or more has doubled in the last 40 years. But sadly, bowel cancer still claims around 44 lives each day.” (Cancer Research)

She’s doing pretty well so far but I want her to raise even more money. Kirsty told me that ‘I chose the walking at Shine London for Bowel Cancer because it has affected some family members and some of my closest friends. If it isn’t discovered early it can be nasty and many people are afraid to speak to their doctor about its symptoms because it is deemed embarrassing.’

“Diabetes is a condition where the amount of glucose in your blood is too high because the body cannot use it properly. This is because your pancreas does not produce any insulin, or not enough, to help glucose enter your body’s cells – or the insulin that is produced does not work properly (known as insulin resistance).” (Diabetes uk website)

In the Asian community (and not just in the Asian community) Diabetes is something which occurs more than it should. Indian sweets, fried foods, too much salt, dhaal’s as well as pasta and rice contribute to this disease becoming seen in almost every family.

My mum suffers from Diabetes and sometimes I want to scream at her when she doesn’t watch what she eats; adding too much salt to food and having desserts when she knows she shouldn’t. It sounds like I’m nagging but I’m only looking out for her!

People I know have lost parents to this horrible disease and it’s shocking that ‘diabetes destroys lives. It kills slowly and silently from the inside. By the time you’re aware, it’s too late’ Zee on Twitter told me.

So when engineer/writer/stuntman and at this rate future Iron Man Pragun Kapur told me he was enduring a total year of pain for Diabetes UK I immediately knew I had to raise awareness. This year of pain consists of 3 Marathons, 2 Tough Guy events, 1 Tough Mudder and a 10k – wow! My thinking is that if we can save at least one life or even get one person to change how they look after their body now it is a year of pain which will totally be worth it.

I found this really simple but fascinating image on the www.diabetes.org.uk website which tells you the difference between the two types of diabetes.

Thanks for listening to me ramble on about this. I haven’t been able to take part in any charity events this year so this is my little way of trying to raise awareness and funds for two charities which are close to my heart so any small donation would be appreciated by myself, Kirsty, Pragun and anyone that has been affected by Cancer and Diabetes.